1981 VFL Grand Final

Carlton	Collingwood
12.20 (92)	10.12 (72)

Date

26 September 1981

Stadium

Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia

Broadcast in Australia

Network

Seven Network

← 1980

VFL Grand Final

1982 →

The 1981 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 26 September 1981. It was the 85th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1981 VFL season. The match, attended by 112,964 spectators, was won by Carlton by a margin of 20 points, marking that club's 13th premiership victory.

Background

Main article: 1981 VFL season

It was a rematch of the two teams that competed in the 1979 Grand Final, which Carlton had won by just five points. Collingwood was searching for its first flag since winning the 1958 VFL Grand Final. They had appeared in three of the last four Grand Finals, losing them all.

At the conclusion of the home and away season, Carlton had finished first on the VFL ladder with 17 wins and 5 losses. Collingwood had finished second, also with 17 wins, but with an inferior percentage.

In the finals series leading up to the Grand Final, Collingwood was defeated by Geelong by 14 points in the Qualifying Final before defeating Fitzroy by 1 point in the First Semi-Final. They advanced to the Grand Final after beating Geelong by 7 points in the Preliminary Final. Carlton had a much easier finals run, defeating Geelong in the Second Semi-Final by 40 points to progress straight through to the Grand Final.

Match summary

Captained by Mike Fitzpatrick, Carlton scored the last six goals of the game to emerge victorious. At one stage late in the third quarter Collingwood led by 21 points after a burst of five unanswered goals, before Carlton scored two late goals to go into three quarter time just 9 points behind.

Team	1	2	3	Final
Carlton	2.4	5.8	8.13	12.20 (92)
Collingwood	2.6	5.7	10.10	10.12 (72)

Some infighting in the Collingwood huddle resulted in Carlton taking all the momentum into the last quarter. Ken Sheldon kicked the opening goal of the final quarter to get Carlton within four points and then Rod Ashman kicked one to put them in front. Collingwood laid down, scoring just two points in the quarter and goals from Mark Maclure and David McKay sealed the win for Carlton.

The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Carlton's Bruce Doull for being judged the best player afield. Collingwood captain Peter Moore famously threw away his runner-up medal after this game in a show of disgust. This was his fifth appearance in a Grand Final, all without success.

This defeat gave Collingwood their third successive Grand Final loss and their fourth in five years. It was the final grand final loss of the infamous "Colliwobbles." They next appeared in a Grand Final nine years later, winning the 1990 AFL Grand Final. The win was Carlton's 13th premiership, drawing them level with Collingwood for the most premierships in VFL history - a record that Collingwood had held outright since 1929.

The grand final was the final one played with the old MCG scoreboard. It was given to Manuka Oval in 1982 after the MCG installed a new colour video scoreboard. The old scoreboard still resides at Manuka Oval today.^[1]

It was one of the last (if not, the very last) time the players swapped guernseys after the grand final (although not all players did.)^[2]

Teams

Carlton
B:	27 Des English	40 Scott Howell	15 Val Perovic
HB:	9 Ken Hunter	11 Bruce Doull	37 Wayne Harmes
C:	13 Phil Maylin	1 Greg Wells	32 David Glascott
HF:	4 Peter Bosustow	36 Mark Maclure	7 Wayne Johnston
F:	43 David McKay	33 Peter McConville	16 Jim Buckley
Foll:	3 Mike Fitzpatrick (c)	5 Ken Sheldon	14 Rod Ashman
Int:	34 Alex Marcou	6 Mario Bortolotto

Coach:	David Parkin

Collingwood
B:	10 Ian Cooper	6 Peter McCormack	26 Ray Byrne (dvc)
HB:	37 David Twomey	25 Billy Picken	33 Graeme Allan
C:	1 Ricky Barham	21 Mark Williams	7 Warwick Irwin
HF:	35 Peter Daicos	19 Craig Davis	36 Rene Kink
F:	23 Ray Shaw (vc)	20 Ross Brewer	9 Craig Stewart
Foll:	30 Peter Moore (c)	28 Michael Taylor	22 Tony Shaw
Int:	38 Stuart Atkin	54 Noel Lovell

Coach:	Tom Hafey

Goal kickers

Carlton

Ashman 3
McKay 2
Maclure 2
Sheldon 2
Buckley 1
Harmes 1
Johnston 1

Collingwood

Barham 2
Williams 2
Daicos 1
Moore 1
R.Shaw 1
T.Shaw 1
Stewart 1
Taylor 1

References

The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004

External links

Blueseum page on the Grand Final

Victorian/Australian Football League Grand Finals

VFL Grand Finals	1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

AFL Grand Finals	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Carlton Football Club 1981 VFL premiers

Carlton 12.20 (92) defeated Collingwood 10.12 (72), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

1. Wells 3. Fitzpatrick (c) 4. Bosustow 5. Sheldon 6. Bortolotto 7. Johnston 9. Hunter 11. Doull 13. Maylin 14. Ashman 15. Perovic 16. Buckley 27. English 32. Glascott 33. McConville 34. Marcou 36. Maclure 37. Harmes 40. Howell 43. McKay

Coach: Parkin

Carlton Football Club

History Premierships and records Players Captains Coaches Awards John Nicholls Medal Leading goalkickers Captain: Marc Murphy Coach: Brendon Bolton Nickname: Blues

Stadiums	Melbourne Cricket Ground Etihad Stadium Princes Park

Premierships	1871 1873 1874 1875 1877 1887 1906 1907 1908 1914 1915 1938 1945 1947 1968 1970 1972 1979 1981 1982 1987 1995

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Related articles	Carlton–Collingwood AFL rivalry Carlton–Essendon AFL rivalry 2002 salary cap breach

Collingwood Football Club

History Records Current squad Players Captains Coaches Awards Copeland Trophy Leading goalkickers Captain: Scott Pendlebury Coach: Nathan Buckley Nickname: Magpies

Home grounds	Melbourne Cricket Ground (1992–present) Etihad Stadium (2000–present) Victoria Park (1897–1999)

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Awards	Copeland Trophy

Related articles	VFL team Carlton–Collingwood AFL rivalry Anzac Day clash Queen's Birthday clash Colliwobbles Eddie McGuire Joffa Corfe New York Magpies

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